


In Which Asahi is Insecure and Nishinoya is Loud

by Toboe1087



Series: Shared Memories [11]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, M/M, Nervous Azumane Asahi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 21:07:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21565357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toboe1087/pseuds/Toboe1087
Summary: From his memories, it was easy to figure out what kind of person Asahi’s soulmate would be. Loud, with an infectious energy. The kind of person that automatically made people smile; the kind of person you couldn’t help but love, the kind of person who was always confident in their decisions.Asahi couldn’t understand it.He wasn’t good enough for that kind of person.
Relationships: Azumane Asahi/Nishinoya Yuu
Series: Shared Memories [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1223309
Comments: 26
Kudos: 491





	In Which Asahi is Insecure and Nishinoya is Loud

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sodelicate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sodelicate/gifts).



> Happy Birthday, Sara!!!

Asahi couldn’t remember when he’d experienced his first soulmate memory, but he did remember what it was: a boy curled in half, laughing at something so hard he had tears in his eyes. Asahi had never seen what. 

There was a lot of laughter in the memories, though. A lot of running and jumping, laughing and shouting, thumping some people on the back, giving others a thumbs up… it was easy to figure out what kind of person Asahi’s soulmate would be. Loud, with an infectious energy. The kind of person that automatically made people smile; the kind of person you couldn’t help but love, the kind of person who was always confident in their decisions.

Asahi couldn’t understand it. 

How could someone like that be his soulmate? 

It didn’t make sense.

He wasn’t good enough for that kind of person.

But still… he couldn’t help but hope that they were soulmates for a reason. That maybe things would work out. That fate wasn’t wrong to pair him with someone so wonderful.

So when he realized that his soulmate loved volleyball, Asahi immediately joined his middle school team. He was tall and decently athletic, so it wasn’t even that long until he became a starter.

Being a starter was nerve-racking, though. There were moments where it felt like he was on top of the world, but far more often he second guessed every one of his decisions.

He always felt like he could have done better. His teammates were amazing. Asahi was just there because he was tall and strong. 

At every meet, Asahi would look around, hoping to find his soulmate, but there were just so many people that were loud. How was he supposed to know which one was his? Narrowing it down by height didn’t help, either, because pretty much everyone that was short and played volleyball seemed to make up for it with volume and energy. Well, except the one blonde boy, but even he would get loud when he yelled at his teammates.

It was overwhelming.

And Asahi wasn’t even sure why he looked, really. It’s not like he knew what to do if he found him. It was just a reflex. That’s what you did, right? You looked for your soulmate. He didn’t know anyone that had actually found their soulmate, though. That took time. And luck, he supposed. It had to, if people met in coffee shops and things like that. 

But then he went to high school, and his two teammates that were also in his year had ended up being each other’s soulmate.

They were so perfect together. 

It made Asahi want to find his soulmate even more, but the only detail he’d found out since middle school was that his soulmate was a libero, but that really wasn’t that surprising, given his height. Other than that, the memories were all vague and unhelpful. 

Diving to receive a ball.

High-fiving a teammate.

Laughing really, really loudly.

Watching some anime show. (Asahi had looked it up later, but apparently it was really popular, so that didn’t even help)

Completely obliterating some poor boy in a snowball fight.

Failing a test. (Asahi supposed his soulmate had to be bad at something. No one was perfect)

Receiving another ball.

Running after a cat. 

Stealing a classmate’s lollipop.

Receiving a volleyball again.

Yelling at a bully (which Asahi was pretty sure had lead to a black eye).

Making a secret tree fort. 

Asahi sighed. Watching his teammates, Sawamura and Sugawara, just made him so impatient to find his own soulmate. But loads of people hadn’t found theirs yet. That was normal. Asahi shouldn’t worry about it. 

But…

“You ready for today?” Asahi blinked. Sawamura was smiling at him. Right. Today was their first high school match. 

“As ready as ever, I suppose.” Asahi still couldn’t believe they were all three starters on the team. He knew this team was in shambles, but they were just first years! There was no way they were ready for this kind of pressure. Asahi wasn’t. High school matches were bound to be so much harder than middle school matches, but he hadn’t improved at all, so this would probably go very badly. 

“We’ll be on the lookout for any short, loud liberos!” Sugawara gave Asahi a cheeky grin, and Asahi couldn’t help but blush and scratch at his cheek. 

“Thanks…” He’d told them about his soulmate, sure, but only because they’d practically dragged it out of him. They were nice, and good friends, but it felt weird to have others know. He’d been too shy to even tell his parents. 

In the end none of that had mattered, though. Karasuno only played one match, and the opponent’s libero had been oddly tall. 

It’s not like Asahi had expected anything else to happen.

Their team wasn’t good. He knew that. Karasuno was a bunch of fallen crows, just like that old man had kept shouting at them. 

And it wasn’t like it was reasonable for him to expect to find his soulmate that easily. And it would be better to meet him as a friend than as an opponent, right? 

He knew all of this! But… Asahi still found himself watching the televised finals match and wondering if either libero was his. 

Later, when he’d said something about one of the finals teams having a better libero than the other, Sugawara had given him a knowing grin.

But it’s not like watching all of the liberos changed anything. Sure he could point out who was better, but he still couldn’t point out who was his. Every player had their own style, right? So he should be able to tell… he’d seen plenty of memories of his soulmate receiving balls; he trained _a lot_. 

But none of the liberos he’d seen play had been quite right. They hadn’t shouted enough, had shouted too much, hadn’t shouted at the right times… they wouldn’t hold their legs the same, their wrists were always a little lower, they didn’t stand in wait for a ball quite like Asahi’s soulmate did. 

When the second high school competition went the same as the first, Asahi tried not to be disappointed. Sugawara and Sawamura had even come to the Saturday matches with him to try to watch as many liberos as possible, but they hadn’t had any luck. 

And then the third years had graduated, and Sawamura was appointed captain even though he was just a second year, and they were meeting the new first years.

Asahi still wasn’t ready to be a senpai. 

One of the new members had a loud laugh, but he wanted to be a spiker, so he made Asahi nervous. What if the guy was better than him? He was probably better than him. But Asahi wanted to stay a starter. He didn’t really know why. It was fun, he supposed, but it was also really nerve-wracking and frightening. 

Sawamura had just finished setting up teams for a three on three match when another figure came running into the gym, shouting apologies for being late. 

“Man, there you are Nishinoya! I was wondering!” The loud spiker’s hands were on his hips as he threw his head back and laughed. “How’d you already get in trouble on the first day?”

“I’m not in trouble!” The short guy huffed. “There was a really tall guy in my class! I had to ask him if he was on the team.”

“If you’d just come here you would’ve found out, idiot!” The loud spiker laughed again, and the shorter guy, Nishinoya, whacked his shoulder.

Asahi guessed they were friends?

“I needed to know right then, though!” 

Sugawara smiled at the two first years. “Is your soulmate tall, Nishinoya-san?”

“Yeah!” The boy scanned the gym as he nodded, “Like probably… that height!” Asahi paled as the boy pointed straight at him.

“Oh?” Now Sawamura was grinning. 

Asahi felt like he was going to feint. He hated situations like this. It’s not like this was his soulmate. It couldn’t be that easy. It was never that easy. Well, except for Sawamura and Sugawara, but those two were just meant for each other, of course they’d find one another in some destined way like joining the same club and meeting each other on the first day of—

“What position do you play?”

Asahi swallowed hard. Why did Sugawara have to be this way?

“I’m a libero!” Nishinoya pointed at himself with this bright grin that screamed confidence, a few bruises visible on his arms from most likely hours of practice—

Asahi was pretty sure the only thing holding him upright was Sawamura’s firm grasp on his shoulder. 

Sugawara’s grin widened, and he wandered over to the net. “I’m going to set a ball for Tanaka-kun. Why don’t you receive it and show us what you’ve got?”

“Awesome!” The boy ran to the other side of the net, and the loud spiker rolled his shoulder a few times before walking over to Sugawara.

A couple of the other second years mumbled questions along the lines of ‘what about the three on three’, but Sugawara just ignored them. 

Asahi couldn’t help but stare at the way Nishinoya crouched. It looked… it looked exactly the same as his soulmate’s stance. Asahi could be wrong, though. In memories you saw everything from the perspective of your soulmate, so it was hard to be sure if the position was the exact same, really. And there were only so many ways to receive a ball, of course, so—

“Rolling Thunder!!” Nishinoya rolled, stopping exactly where he needed in order to receive the ball and send it soaring up into the air, falling down in a graceful arch right above one of the other first years on his side of the net.

Asahi stared.

The loud spiker cracked up, “What the hell was that, man?”

“Did you like it?” Nishinoya grinned. “It’s my special move! I was working on it all break!” 

“Azumane?’ 

Asahi blinked. Sawamura was waving a hand in front of his face. Right. He… uh, he probably wanted to know if this was the right libero. Asahi had never seen his soulmate do a, um… rolling thunder, but everything else had been just right, but that didn’t necessarily mean….

Sawamura sighed next to him, and suddenly Sugawara was turning toward the libero. “Nishinoya, you said your soulmate was around Azumane’s height, right? Do you know any other details?”

Asahi choked. “Sugawara! That’s… that’s really personal, don’t you think?! It’s just the first day of school, and—”

“See”—no, no, Sugawara was ignoring him—“I happen to know that Azumane’s soulmate is a libero like you.” 

Asahi made a strangled noise at the back of his throat and tried to turn around and leave, but Sawamura’s grip on his shoulder stayed firm. 

“Really?! Dude, that’s awesome!” And suddenly Nishinoya was bounding over to him and standing right in front of him, vibrating with energy. “You know, with your goatee and long hair, you do kind of look like a punk…”

“What??!” Asahi’s eyes widened. “I…” Sawamura and Sugawara burst out laughing. “I mean, people have told me that before, but I would never hurt anyone! And I swear I was just trying to help that girl that one time and the kid had dropped his ice cream and I just wanted to get him another cone and then the old lady...” Asahi’s voice drifted off as he realized every one around them had gone silent. 

Nishinoya’s eyes were wide. “You… do you like tonkotsu ramen?” The sudden quietness of the libero’s voice was unnerving. It was like Nishinoya had taken all of his energy and was using it to focus directly on Asahi. 

It was like how Asahi’s soulmate became when he was in a challenging match.

Asahi nodded slowly. “It’s my favorite.” 

“I have a memory.” Unblinking eyes stared at him. “It’s of my soulmate’s mom scolding him for eating it too often.”

Asahi blushed. Why did soulmate memories have to be so random? “My mom does that sometimes.” His voice was quiet. He barely realized that Sawamura had finally let go of his shoulders. “You…” what should he ask? Asahi didn’t know. He’d never thought about this part, he’d always assumed he’d never find his soulmate, no matter how hard he looked so he didn’t know what to ask or what to say or—

Nishinoya was grinning at him.

_Grinning!_

It was so bright, and Asahi wasn’t sure why or what he had done wrong or what he had done right or—

And then the boy was yanking him down by his collar, lips pressing against his, and Asahi swore he really would faint this time. Everything was just so overwhelming! He felt incredible, like he could do anything, like he could conquer the world, if only this boy would stay at his side. 

But then he heard Sugawara wolf whistling, and Asahi scrambled backwards, covering his mouth with one hand as he turned the brightest shade of red he’d ever been in his life.

Nishinoya grinned at him, then gave him a thumbs up. “Great to meet you, soulmate! I’ve always got your back.” 

Somehow, Asahi didn’t doubt him.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed the next installment of this series!! As always, I really appreciate hearing back from y'all through each comment and kudos on my fics, it always makes my day!! 
> 
> If you want to talk about my work, writing, art, or anime in general, we always love to have new people join us on my discord server! We recommend fics to each other and have writing and art challenges, too :D You can be active as much or as little as you want. I post chapter previews and there's also some fan art of my other works. :) https://discord.gg/BDZGCBa


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